Correlation of Psychosomatic Factors and Personality Traits With the Severity of Melanoma

Melanoma, as a type of skin cancer, has undoubtedly gathered the interest of the global community in recent years, due to its rising incidence. Patients suffering from melanoma experience effects on their mental health, mainly depression and anxiety disorders. The present study aimed to examine the association of melanoma with the psychosomatic burden, personality traits, and demographic factors of the participants.

The psychometric instruments administered were: the Psychopathology Questionnaire (SCL-90), Beck Depression Scale (BDI), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ). The research sample consisted of 80 cancer patients, of whom 57.5% were women and 42.5% men, and whose ages ranged from 15 to 85, with a mean age of 56.95 and a standard deviation of 13.52 years.

The majority of patients presented introverted hostility (77.5%) and 22.5% presented extroverted hostility. Male cancer patients seemed to score on average statistically significantly higher on the self-criticism scale than females (4.44±2.31 vs. 3.17±1.98, p<0.01) The patients in an advanced stage scored statistically significantly higher on the phobic anxiety scale than the patients in the initial stage (5.17±3.60 vs. 2.86±2.04, p<0.01). Also, early-stage patients presented statistically significantly higher scores on the paranoid hostility scale than advanced-stage patients (2.00±1.18 vs. 1.37±0.89, p<0.05).

The majority of patients with melanoma presented introverted hostility, and those in advanced stages scored significantly higher on the phobic anxiety scale compared to the patients in the initial stage.